Denver Broncos / NFL

Drafting a roster spot

Opportunities abound for unselected free agents in this age of salary cap

Former CU offensive tackle Tyler Polumbus hits the weights in hopes of making his mark with the Broncos.
(Brian Brainerd, The Denver Post
)

Tyler Polumbus never knew being overlooked in the NFL draft could be so exciting.

Within minutes of the draft's conclusion, Polumbus' phone started ringing . . . and ringing . . . and ringing. He wasn't deemed worthy of a draft choice, but suddenly he was being pursued by teams throughout the league.

Talk about your surreal moments. The final pick had barely been made and Polumbus, an offensive tackle, found himself talking to Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who beat Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher to the punch by a few seconds.

"I had Coach Fisher on hold for 10 or 15 minutes while I was talking to Coach Dungy," Polumbus said. "That was a really weird feeling knowing I had another NFL coach on hold. I definitely wasn't prepared for that moment."

So whose sales pitch did Polumbus select? Neither.

The Broncos had called during the draft and Polumbus, who grew up in Denver and played at Colorado, jumped at the chance to join his favorite team. But first he had to let out a huge sigh of relief.

The unusual twists and turns didn't start with the phone calls. For Polumbus, they began in the seventh round, when he went from dreaming of being drafted to hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't be.

"It's a bizarre situation," Polumbus said. "I was praying I wouldn't get picked up. I didn't want to go to a place where I didn't want to be."

For undrafted free agents, it's all about the opportunity, about being in the right place with the right team at the right time.

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They can honestly say it's not about the money.

Polumbus signed for slightly more than $20,000. Former Colorado State quarterback Caleb Hanie, meanwhile, received $5,000 to sign with the Chicago Bears. They should consider themselves fortunate. The St. Louis Rams don't give signing bonuses to undrafted free agents. They'll give them an advance on offseason workout expenses and camp per diems, but that's it.

Ability to pick their teams

Like Polumbus, Hanie spent the latter stages of the draft on the edge of his seat. But Hanie was hoping to be selected, especially after hearing draft junkie Mel Kiper Jr. talking up his potential during ESPN's draft coverage.

"You just want to hear your name called," Hanie said. "Obviously, if I had been drafted by the Bears, I would have felt better. With that said, I'm happy for the opportunity. In a way, it was better that I went undrafted because I feel confident I'm with a team that has confidence in me."

Hanie and Polumbus were like every other undrafted free agent on draft weekend. By the time Sunday afternoon arrived, they and their agents had pored over every team's depth chart in search of the best opportunity. Then it was a matter of waiting for the phone to ring and finding a match.

At 6-feet-7, 315 pounds, Polumbus knew he wouldn't be a fit with teams who employed massive tackles. He and his agent, Boulder-based Tom Mills, had targeted the Broncos, what with Mike Shanahan's preference for lean linemen. When the Broncos used their first-rounder on Ryan Clady, but didn't draft another tackle, the opportunity arose.

Hanie knew the Bears were interested, having talked to team officials and taken a physical in Chicago in the weeks preceding the draft. And he knew their quarterback situation was unsettled, with embattled starter Rex Grossman and backup Kyle Orton toward the end of their contracts.

"It's a good situation," Hanie said. "Obviously they could both do well this year, and they could keep them both.

Polumbus
(Brian Bahr, Getty Images file photo )

If one of them struggles, they could decide they don't need one of them, and it opens up a roster spot for a guy like me. There are a lot of different scenarios."

Salary cap opens doors

Back in the day, Polumbus and Hanie may not have gone undrafted. Instead of being called free agents, they would have been labeled late-rounders.

"Tyler probably would have been an eighth-round pick in the old days," Mills said. "A lot of guys are like that. They're free agents because the draft is only seven rounds."

That helps explain why undrafted free agents are making such a major impact in today's NFL. Part of it is pure numbers. The NFL pared the draft to seven rounds from 12 in 1994, meaning dozens of players who would have been selected in earlier years went undrafted.

It's more than that, though. The salary cap and the practice squad, both relatively recent phenomenons, have served to create opportunities for developmental-type players that weren't there in previous generations.

NFL teams always have given the benefit of the doubt to younger players deemed to be on a par with high-salaried veterans. But that practice is more prevalent now because of the salary cap. With teams spending the bulk of their cap on star-caliber starters, the bottom of NFL rosters typically are filled with young players making at or near the league minimum.

"It's a necessary part of doing business," Mills said. "Teams want competition. And even if a young player doesn't make the roster, he forces the other player to play better."

Unlike a veteran, not making the roster isn't the end of the road for an undrafted free agent. The practice squad has become a haven for such players. It gives teams extra time to develop prospects who went undrafted for any number of reasons. Some were undersized and others were switching positions. Or they played at a small school or were injured in college.

Rod Smith fit all of those descriptions. He played quarterback at Missouri Southern before making the switch to wide receiver. He injured his knee in college and needed to get stronger to have a chance to play in the NFL.

The rest is history. Smith is a certain Broncos Ring of Famer, as is Tom Nalen, another member of Denver's practice squad, class of 1994.

Talented players make mark

Not that Smith is the only undrafted free agent to make it big in the NFL in recent years. Neither of the Pittsburgh Steelers' past two team MVPs, Willie Parker or James Harrison, was drafted. Nor were Shaun O'Hara and Rich Seubert, two key members of the New York Giants' offensive line.

The list goes on and on. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, he of the $66 million contract, was bypassed on draft weekend. So was San Diego's Antonio Gates, a former basketball player at Kent State who has become the standard of the industry among NFL tight ends. Then there's Indianapolis' Jeff Saturday, arguably the best center in the game.

According to NFL.com, the 12 playoff teams in 2007 had 167 undrafted free agents on their rosters. Some, like Polumbus, received $20,000-plus to sign, not bad considering last year's final draft pick, Alabama cornerback Ramzee Robinson, got $24,900 from Detroit. Others got little more than a plane ticket and a T-shirt.

Such is life for undrafted free agents.

"Anytime you get into five figures, there's some competition involved," Mills said. "If there's one team on the line, you've got your hand out. It's better than not getting a contract. At least you've got a chance. That's all you can ask for."

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